After spectacularly winning Sunday’s Formula 2 race in Hungary, Mercedes reserve driver Kimi Antonelli suddenly has doubts about whether he is ready for Formula 1 next season. Team principal Toto Wolff dispelled his doubts…
Toto Wolff: “We sometimes forget to remind ourselves how stupid we were when we were 17. I can say with confidence that an unprepared person would never be able to make quick decisions in a competitive environment.
Kimi spent a number of years in karting, then in regional Formula, and now in Formula 2, for the whole world, fighting for a place at Mercedes.
I want him to make mistakes and learn from them, communicate with the team, improve the efficiency of the car, monitor the life of the tyres and change the strategy based on wear. I saw all this during the most important F2 race in Hungary.
Let’s see if he can get a foothold at this level. It’s always difficult to judge this in Formula 2, but what we see from the Formula 1 test data is encouraging.
In Hungary Kimi did a great job and took a dominant win on two different tyre compounds. He was very strong and deserved to win, but we never doubted his speed. The speed also comes from the fact that he learns very quickly, including working with tyres and everything else – so this win was a statement.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
